FC Barcelona v Manchester City: Did you
know?
ROBERT GÜELL
Manchester City have never played an official match at the
Camp Nou, but have played two friendlies
Midfielder Touré Yayá returns to what was his home
between 2007 and 2010
FC Barcelona will be defending
their 2-0 first leg win against
Manchester City on Wednesday night (8.45 PM CET,
Canal+). They are looking for a seventh consecutive quarter
finals appearance. Here’s a selection of trivia associated with
the game:
It is the first time Manchester City have played an
official match at the Camp Nou, but they have played two
friendlies.
The first was in 1974, for FCB’s 75th anniverdsary, with
the home side winning 3-2. The second was the Gamper
in 2009, which Man City won, 1-0. They also met twice at
the old Les Corts stadium in 1952 and 1957, with Barça
winning both times, 5-1 and 3-2, respectively.
FC Barcelona won the first leg 2-0 away from home. On
the eight occasions that they have defended such a
scoreline in Europe at the Camp Nou, they have always
qualified for the next round.
A win tonight would put Barça into the Champions
League quarter finals for the seventh year in a row.
This is the first time City have played in the Champions
League second round. In European competitions, they
have played in the Iberian Peninsula five times before,
with one win, one draw and three defeats.
Barça have played at home to English teams 27 times,
getting 15 wins, drawing ten and losing just two.
In games at home to English sides, Messi has scored eight
goals. He opened the scoring in the first leg of this tie and
has the chance tonight to extend his impressive record.
The Argentinian is the all-time record goalscorer in this
round of the competition with 16 goals in 17 matches.
There will be Argentinians on both benches at the Camp
Nou, with Tata Martino on one and Rubén Cousillas on
the other.
Manchester City’s head coach Manuel Pellegrini is
suspended. The Chilean has managed 22 games against
Barça over the years, with four wins, four draws and 14
defeats.
Another of tonight’s protagonists will be Touré Yayá.
The Ivorian midfielder returns to the Camp Nou, where he
played from 2007 to 2010.
Tonight’s referee is France’s Stéphane Lannoy. He has
officiated three Barça games before and the Catalans have
always won with him in charge. The last time was this
season’s 1-0 win at Celtic in the group stage.
Lannoy was also the referee in 2011 when Manchester
City beat Bayern Munich 2-0.
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